Ken Wilcox is president and CEO of SVB Financial Group. Since January 2000, when he took on the role, Wilcox has successfully pursued a strategy of expansion and diversification, while remaining focused on the company's core niches of technology, life sciences, private equity and premium wineries.

Wilcox joined Silicon Valley Bank in 1990 when he co-founded the company's East Coast Technology Division. In this role, Wilcox managed the first regional office of Silicon Valley Bank and was responsible for all lending activity east of the Mississippi River. Upon promotion to chief banking officer in 1997, Wilcox moved from Massachusetts to California and became president and CEO within four years.

Prior to joining Silicon Valley Bank, Wilcox spent two years as a member of the Technology Lending Group with the Bank of New England and five years at Shawmut Bank in Boston. Prior to his banking career, Wilcox was a professor of German at The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

Wilcox received a bachelor's degree in German studies from Oakland University and a Ph.D. in German Studies from The Ohio State University. He also earned a master's of business administration from Harvard Business School.

Wilcox is a member of the board of directors of the Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco and the Silicon Valley Leadership Group.

An outstanding office culture trumps all, says Ken Wilcox, the CEO of Silicon Valley Bank, who heads the most noted financial hub for the technology sector. Wilcox discusses how his financial services institution has scaffolded against recession, and bullet points the uniqueness of commercial banking for the tech start-up.

Building great corporate culture is more than just metaphors; it's what motivates a winning team. Most people at corporations in the US are unhappy, says Silicon Valley Bank CEO Ken Wilcox. But the organization can craft a pleasant and productive environment by hiring diverse and intelligent people and keeping them onboard. Knowing how to work together under an organization's guiding principals is critical. Past experience in commercial banking is not.

Tech companies deposit about seven times the amount that they borrow. And at Silicon Valley Bank, recalls CEO Ken Wilcox, the methodology his venture has used to invest these excess deposits is a micro-history of commercial banking itself. Learn the lessons of the bank's lending in the 1980's to 1990's, and its investment in real estate developers and under-served niche markets. Learn also how these plans failed to provide financial stability long-term.

Under Ken Wilcox's tutelage as CEO, Silicon Valley Bank has cashed in on a winning hand. He added a broker dealer of money market accounts to their existing commercial banking services with huge success. The bank now focuses exclusively on technology clients (save for a few holdovers from the premium wine vertical), and they've expanded their product suite to cater to this unique market appropriately. The institution altered its efforts to retain larger customers longer, and worldwide.

When the cost of doing business grew out of hand - elevating to 19 percent in 2006 - Ken Wilcox, Silicon Valley Bank's CEO, reeled it in. By squeezing vendors, outsourcing labor and services, and removing unnecessary steps from business processes when it makes sense to do so, he managed to lower the rise of corporate expenses to just two percent in a single year.

Visiting with every single employee bank-wide, Silicon Valley Bank CEO Ken Wilcox believes that personal correspondence is one of the best ways to solidify satisfactory communication. In this clip, he also explains the bank's group evaluation practices, and discusses how peer evaluation is a boon to an enriching work environment.

In addition to a suite of banking products, a financial institution for a growing business offers numerous other services, says Silicon Valley Bank CEO Ken Wilcox. Way beyond simple checking and savings, a great commercial bank can offer a network of resources, such as advice on the logistics of company formation. And far beyond money management, the bank offers a powerful Rolodex of indispensable capital resources, a slew of service providers, and connections for investing in foreign markets.